As he shoved through the undergrowth, drizzle began to seep from the sky. But now the track was more definite, so he went on, following it uphill. Shouldering aside wattles and shrubs, he made his way along it, stepping over logs and sticks, streamers of bark. It was wet underfoot. Several times he slipped and almost lost his footing.

The trail forged upslope, and soon he came to a thick patch of young trees where the track wove among the chaos of trunks for a couple of hundred metres before breaking out onto an open area, logged sometime in the past few years. He stopped to scratch a leech from his neck and flick it away—part of the scenery.

He crossed the clearing and followed the track into forest again. Now the trail was more obvious; the vegetation had been cut back to make progress easier. To one side, he saw patchy areas on the ground where it appeared someone had turned over dirt with a shovel. Ahead, the scrub seemed less dense, as if there might be a break in the canopy. He thought he could see some kind of barrier, so he went on.

As he came closer, he saw a fence of star-picket posts with chicken wire pulled tight. Within the enclosure, rows of plants waved in the breeze. Just short of the fence, his skin started to crawl.

It was a dope plantation. Fifteen metres by fifteen, worth a lot of money. He crouched down. Whose was it?

A crash in the scrub made him jump, but it was just a wallaby. Even so, he was edgy. Before, the forest had felt friendly, but now it had alien vibes. The trees were leaning in as if they were watching him. He pulled out his phone and tried to call the police. No reception. He would have to take photos and drop in at the police station on the way home. He walked around, snapping shots. The fences had clearly been designed to keep wallabies out, and the forest had been thinned to let in the light, leaving just enough trees so the planting wouldn’t be seen from the air. Whoever had planned it was clever.

He took photos from several angles then headed quickly downhill; there was no point hanging around.